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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2018

Kevin Anderson

Wimbledon, London, England

K. ANDERSON/A. Seppi

6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How was it coming back after last night and getting it done today?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I felt I played great today. It was very nice getting off the court pretty quickly. I thought I got off to a very good start. Even that first game when he was serving I played a few good points. I thought set the tone nicely.

It's always tricky coming back after stopping for the day, especially in the middle of the match, mind is sort of thinking about things. But I have been in this position before, but I feel like that definitely helps, as is my opponent, I'm sure.

But I think all in all, it was a very high-quality match.

Q. Was it difficult for you to stop last night?
KEVIN ANDERSON: It was just a little bit tough at the beginning because we warmed up and the referee said we would be on in five minutes and then another five minutes because I think the court got a little bit more water than some of the other courts. And when we were about to go on I think it rained again and we came up to the main locker room and then they finally canceled it at 8:30.

Stopping and starting is a bit tricky, but again, it's nothing too new by now.

Q. What do you think about your general form? You have Kohlschreiber next. How do you feel where you are?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I feel like the last two matches have been great. I feel good. Body is healthy. I feel like I have been playing some of the best tennis of my career. That's exciting for me. Playing a very tough and experienced player. We played each other not that long ago in Madrid. Obviously a very different surface.

So definitely going to have my work cut out for me. Going to have to play good -- will have to play a good match tomorrow to win. I mean, he's very experienced, especially on the grass. I think his game is well suited for it, as well. His slice backhand, his serve, very effective. He moves well. Hits the ball very well.

Yeah, I'm going to have to play it well, but I feel if I stick to my game I will give myself the best chance.

Q. With Cilic out now, things are opening up in your section of the draw. What goes through your mind when you hear about that result?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, obviously a bit surprising just given how dominant Marin was yesterday. You know, I have said for a while, there is no easy matches. That looks like a huge surprise from the outside, which I'm sure nobody was expecting that, but definitely a testament to all of the great men's tennis players. Either way, whoever you are playing in that position, I mean, they have put themselves there for a reason.

You know, for me, least of my concerns right now. As I said earlier, I'm just worried about my next match, already tomorrow because of rain delays. All my focus and energies is on playing Kohlschreiber tomorrow.

Q. When Madison Keys was in here she was asked what she makes of seeing the big guys play tennis, and their serving power, number of aces. She said she finds it kind of boring, that the matches, they could go five sets and be under two hours because of the number of aces. What's your reaction to that and your thoughts on the guys with a lot of size and the big serving games?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I look at the numbers, I feel like it's very exciting. There is a lot of people watching men's tennis right now. I would say I think people enjoy seeing different people playing. I think some of the taller guys, you know, if you look at somebody likes Cilic, Del Potro, myself, I feel like, I mean, we often exchange a lot of baseline exchanges.

Just talking about Cilic earlier, I mean, barely, I'd say he's a great server but he's very consistent and very good from the back. I put myself in that same category.

Yeah, definitely the men's side, service dominates the game. It's one of the primary shots. But at the same time, if you look at some of the best -- in terms of some of the results over the last couple years, I mean, you know, guys return very well. So you know, it's I think sometimes very interesting those battles that take place between good servers and good returners.

I feel like it's been like that obviously for ages. Wimbledon tried to slow down the grass courts a while ago. If you look at the days of Sampras, Krajicek, Ivanisevic, I think they were almost more dominant on serves in terms of less rallies. I don't think anybody was complaining with the quality of men's tennis during the '90s.

Q. As you have suggested, taller guys are much better movers now. Raonic was saying he thinks it's partly because the bigger guys have realized they needed to train a little bit differently than everybody else.
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I think taller guys are moving better and better and you see more guys feeling comfortable from the back. I mean, a while ago if you were tall it was an automatic serve and volley. Didn't want to stay in baseline exchanges. I feel like that's definitely changed.

I feel, you know, when you see other guys doing it, that phenomenon, if he can do it so can I. I think people look at me, I have played my whole life from the back. I have only later in my career I have sort of moved forward, and I feel very comfortable from the baseline. I think when other people see me they sort of have the same effect. It's the same in other sports, as well.

Yeah, I think it's exciting. I mean, there is definitely a big contrast between the taller guys and the guys who aren't as tall. There are some great athletes, but I think it definitely makes for some interesting tennis.

Q. I just want to switch gears a little bit. We are doing some work on the real strong teams in collegiate tennis in America. Of course, there have been many great teams. Stanford, USC, Trinity, whatever. Could you talk about your winning team? Do you think it should be considered to be one of the strongest, maybe even the top 10 teams of all time? Talk a little bit about them and the role of Tiley and so forth.
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I just missed out on being in the championship team in '03. I started in '05. We had a great year in '07, losing to Georgia in the finals. Yeah, you can make a case for it being one of the stronger fields of players in collegiate. Obviously John was there, you know, the likes of Somdev, Jesse Levine, just to name a very few who did well that year, all top 100 players.

I mean, I'm a huge advocate for college tennis. I think for a lot of the guys who haven't really established themselves and have great sort of financial backing, it's such a great route. Especially as careers are getting sort of longer, you know, I think you can mature a little bit, as well, for a lot of players. I think you can extend your career, too.

It's a good option. Yeah, I mean, it's always interesting. You hear guys talking about teams. I mean, you would have to look at the Stanford team, I think, I don't know what year it was when they lost literally three points the whole year. I think in terms of records I think that would be a tough one to beat.

Q. And the role of Craig?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I was just there one semester but he did a great job turning around the whole culture of tennis at Illinois. He really created a whole, you know, whole family and a whole structure in place really. Brad Dancer took over. You know, I spent obviously a lot more time with Brad. You see the success Craig has had in Australia, so he's definitely, you know, well qualified for those sort of jobs.

Q. If you could talk about the ATP World Team Cup and if you know why talks between the ATP and ITF broke down and...
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, obviously being on the council we have spent a lot of time discussing that, and I think the main thing is we were really excited about the prospects of the World Team Cup. You know, we have had that event before in DÃ¼sseldorf, and I think we can bring it back into a much bigger and broader sense. I think it would be really exciting. It's great for us to own our own event.

We looked really hard at both options. ITF, I'm sure, having their own discussions, I wouldn't be surprised if that still goes ahead. When we had to decide we felt that for multitude of reasons that us as players and representing as many players as possible, you know, we felt the direction of having the World Team Cup was a better option for us.

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